Cattle guard

ABSTRACT

A plurality of spaced and parallel cross member pipes are secured at right angles to a plurality of sill members. A steel gusset is vertically situated between adjacent cross member pipes and upon each sill member and is welded thereto thus preventing the cross member pipes from breaking away from constant battering received from logging trucks and the like using the cattle guards. The gussets have concave ends which fit around the periphery of the pipes and engage the pipes well above the horizontal centre line thus giving a structure which is virtually incapable of being broken in use.

United States Patent [191 Christianson ii 3,790,135 [451 Feb. 5, 1974 CATTLE GUARD [76] Inventor: Lee H. Christianson, 43 Holly St.,

N.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 152,755, June 14,

1971, abandoned.

[52] us. or. 256/17 [51] Int. Cl. A01k 3/00, EOlb 17/00 [58] Field of Search 256/14, 17, 65, 131

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,518,855 8/1950 Balzer. 256/17 1,326,622 12/1919 Underwood 256/14 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 541,443 11/1941 Great Britain 256/17 1,004,361 3/1957 Germany 256/65 5/1955 Australia 256/14 9/1966 Switzerland 256/17 Primary Examiner-James R. Boler Assistant Examiner-Conrad L. Berman Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Cecil C. Kent & Associates 5 7] ABSTRACT A plurality of spaced and parallel cross member pipes are secured at right angles to a plurality of sill members. A steel gusset is vertically situated between adjacent cross member pipes and upon each sill member and is welded thereto thus preventing the cross member pipes from breaking away'from constant battering received from logging trucks and the like using the cattle guards. The gussets have concave ends which fit around the periphery of the pipes and engage the pipeswell above the horizontal centre line thus giving a structure which is virtually incapable of being broken in use.

4 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures PATENTEUFEB 5:914

SHEET 1 0F 2 IBA FIG. 5

FIG 4 FIG. 3

FIG.

1 CATTLE GUARD This invention relates to new and useful improvements in steel pipe cattle guards and constitutes a Continuation-in-Part of my application, Ser. No. 152,755, filed June 14, 1971, and now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Steel pipe cattle guards have been in use for some considerable time but they have not been too successful because of the limited area of contact for welding and limited strength resulting therefrom. The shock load of relatively heavy vehicles constantly hitting the cross members eventually breaks them loose whereupon of course, the cattle guard is worthless.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The principal object and essence of the invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which includes reinforcing gussets between adjacent cross member pipes thereby'eliminating the danger'of same being broken away by constant battering of heavy vehicles striking them as they cross the cattle guard.

A yet further object of the invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which may include additional reinforcing face members depending upon installation characteristics.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which may be installed in various ways depending upon the situation encountered.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which includes means permitting easy attachment of barbed wire fences to each side of the cattle guard.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which is simple in construction, economical in manufacture and otherwise well suited to the purpose for which it is designed.

With the foregoing objects in view, and other such objects and advantages as will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as this specification proceeds, my invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts all as hereinafter more particularly described, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view of one embodiment of the device.

FIG. 2 is a front or rear elevation of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section substantially along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged section substantially along the line 4--4 of FIG. 1 and showing an alternative construction.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged section substantially along the line 5-5 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged section substantially along the line 6-6 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary isometric view of an alternative embodiment of the device.

FIGS. 8 to Ill inclusive show a cross sectional view of various methods of installing the cattle guard depending upon conditions.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.

PRELIMINARY DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The cattle guard consists of a plurality of spaced and parallel sills 12 having a plurality of spaced and parallel cross member pipes'll3 secured at right angles to the sills with vertical gusset plates M welded between adjacent cross member pipes and upon the sill pipes to provide an integral unit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Proceeding therefore to describe the invention in detail, the sill pipes or members 12 or 12A are of a larger diameter or dimension than the cross member pipes 13 and may, if desired, be filled with concrete 15 for weight and strength purposes.

In a standard cattle guard, four such sill pipes or members are used but of course it will be appreciated that any number can be utilized depending upon circumstances.

The cross member pipes 13 are usually of a smaller diameter and are situated transversely of the sill pipes substantially at right angles thereto and in spaced and parallel relationship as clearly shown in FIG. 1.

Conventionally these would be welded by the lower side thereof to the sill pipes but, as mentioned previously, the area of contact is relatively small so that a strong weld is almost impossible to obtain. This means that they can readily be broken away by the impact of the tires of heavy vehicles using the cattle guard.

The gussets M are formed from a substantially rectangular plate, the ends 16 of which are arcuately curved to fit against the outer surface of the cross member pipes 113 as clearly shown in FIG. 5. A gusset plate is situated between every adjacent cross member pipe and upon each sill as indicated in FIG. ]l and the lower side edge 17 of these gusset plates is welded to the upper surface 18 of the sill pipe. The arcuately curved ends 16 are also welded to the outer surface of the cross member pipes as clearly indicated in FIG. 5 at 16A and the upper side edge I9 of these gusset plates terminates spaced below the uppermost surface 20 of the cross member pipes.

It should be stressed that the upper side edges 19 of these gussets extend above the transverse centre line 13A of the cross pipes 13 and that the arcuately curved ends 16 are welded to the pipes all along the area of contact between the ends 16 and. the pipes.

Furthermore these ends 16 are curved to the same degree as the curvature of the walls of the pipes 13 so that when the assembly is welded together as aforesaid, the structure becomes one integral unit.

These guards are designed to be used primarily on logging roads and it is quite usual for trucks, fully loaded, to weigh up to 10 tons and to pass over these guards at speeds up to 50 mph or more.

The shock loads encountered under these circumstances require a structure that will not break loose under conditions such as these and the gussets extending above the transverse or horizontal centre lines 13A ensures that such displacement of the pipes 13 cannot occur because even if the welding 16A does break, the pipes cannot disengage from between adjacent gusset plates 14.

It will also be noted that the lower side edges or corners 19A of the gussets engage around the underside of the pipes 13 and extend closer to the vertical centre line 138 than do the upper corners 19.

A fence post socket 21 is welded to the inside of the outermost sill pipes specifically designated 12A and 12B and this socket inclines upwardly and outwardly and is welded also to the adjacent gusset as at 22, as shown in FIG. 6.

Once installed, a fence post 23 may be socketed therein so that bar wire strands 24 can be secured to the extending flanges 25 welded to the fence post 23.

Various forms of installation are possible with this device and these are shown by example in FIGS. 8 to 11 inclusive.

In FIG. 9, the guard is shown installed upon timbers 26 situated at the base 27 of the pit spanned by the cattle guard, said pit permitting the cross member pipes 13 to lie just above the road surface 28.

In this embodiment, additional lower sill members 29 are secured to the main sill members 12 at right angles thereto and adjacent the ends thereof as clearly shown.

FIG. shows a similar installation without the additional sill members 29 and timbers 26, once again the cross member pipes lying substantially just above the surface 28 of the road as clearly shown.

FIG. 11 is an installation similar to FIG. 10 with the exception that timbers 26 support further cross timbers 29' with the cattle guard resting on these timbers 29', once again the cross member pipes 13 lie in the same relationship to the road surface 28 as hereinbefore described.

Under certain circumstances, it is desirable to reinforce the outermost cross member pipes specifically designated 13A and B and details of this are shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

A reinforcing face member 30 consists of a substantially rectangular cross section steel tube which is welded by the upper edge 31 thereof to the outer surface of the outermost cross member tubes 13A and 13B and also to the ends of the sills 12 thus giving an extremely rigid construction at each end of the cattle guard. It will be observed that the upper edge face or side 32 of the reinforcing face members 30 terminates adjacent the horizontal axes 33 of the outermost cross member pipes 13A and 13B and if installed as illustrated in FIG. 8, the exposed portion of the face members 30 assists in elevating the vehicle crossing the guard, upwardly onto the cross member pipes 13 and reduces the shock of the vehicle hitting the outermost cross member pipes which, under certain circumstances, may end shift the entire cattle guard in one direction or the other thus displacing it from its desired position. In this connection it should be understood that relatively heavy logging trucks weighing as much as 60 tons often use these cattle guards at speeds approaching 40 or 50 miles an hour so that the shock load is excessive.

Since various modifications can be made in my invention as hereinabove described, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same made within the spirit and scope of the claims without departing from such spirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a cattle guard, the combination of spaced parallel sill members of a relatively large dimension, a set of spaced parallel cylindrical cross members of a relatively small diameter extending transversely of said sill members with lower portions of the cross members resting directly on upper portions of the sill members and being welded thereto, and sets of gusset plates disposed on top of at least two sill members, each set including individual gusset plates disposed in vertical planes longitudinally on top of its said sill member in the spaces between the cross members with lower edges of the gusset plates being welded to its said sill member, said gusset plates having concave end edges at both ends complemental and welded to side portions of the cylindrical cross members, said gusset plates forming with their said cross members an integral structure extending longitudinally along the said sill member, said concave end edges having upper sides which extend above the horizontal centre lines of the cross members and engage around part of the upper side of the cross members, and lower sides which engage around part of the underside of the cross members, said lower sides terminating closer to the vertical centre lines of the cross members than do the said upper sides, the distance between. the upper ends of the concave edges of adjacent gusset plates on opposite sides of a given cylindrical cross member thus being less than the diameter of that cross member, thereby preventing vertical displacement of the said cross members upwardly out from between said adjacent gusset plates.

2. The guard according to claim 1 in which said sill members are filled with concrete.

3. The guard according to claim 1 which includes a reinforcing face member secured across the ends of said sills and to the outermost cross member pipes, said face members being substantially rectangular in cross section, the upper side of said face members terminating and being secured to said outermost cross member pipes adjacent the horizontal axes thereof.

4. The guard according to claim 1 which includes a fence post socket secured to the inside of the outermost of said sill members and inclining outwardly and upwardly therefrom and adapted to receive a cylindrical barbed wire anchor post therein. 

1. In a cattle guard, the combination of spaced parallel sill members of a relatively large dimension, a set of spaced parallel cylindrical cross members of a relatively small diameter extending transversely of said sill members with lower portions of the cross members resting directly on upper portions of the sill members and being welded thereto, and sets of gusset plates disposed on top of at least two sill members, each set including individual gusset plates disposed in vertical planes longitudinally on top of its said sill member in the spaces between the cross members with lower edges of the gusset plates being welded to its said sill member, said gusset plates having concave end edges at both ends complemental and welded to side portions of the cylindrical cross members, said gusset plates forming with their said cross members an integral structure extending longitudinally along the said sill member, said concave end edges having upper sides which extend above the horizontal centre lines of the cross members and engage around part of the upper side of the cross members, and lower sides which engage around part of the underside of the cross members, said lower sides terminating closer to the vertical centre lines of the cross members than do the said upper sides, the distance between the upper ends of the concave edges of adjacent gusset plates on opposite sides of a given cylindrical cross member thus being less than the diameter of that cross member, thereby preventing vertical displacement of the said cross members upwardly out from between said adjacent gusset plates.
 2. The guard according to claim 1 in which said sill members are filled with concrete.
 3. The guard according to claim 1 which includes a reinforcing face member secured across the ends of said sills and to the outermost cross member pipes, said face members being substantially rectangular in cross section, the upper side of said face members terminating and being secured to said outermost cross member pipes adjacent the horizontal axes thereof.
 4. The guard according to claim 1 which includes a fence post socket secured to the inside of the outermost of said sill members and inclining outwardly and upwardly therefrom and adapted to receive a cylindrical barbed wire anchor post therein. 